A Wish
Mine be a cot beside the hill;A bee-hive’s hum shall soothe my ear;A willowy brook that turns a millWith many a fall shall linger near.
The swallow, oft, beneath my thatchShall twitter from her clay-built nest;Oft shall the pilgrim lift the latch,And share my meal, a welcome guest.
Around my ivied porch shall springEach fragrant flower that drinks the dew;And Lucy, at her wheel, shall singIn russet gown and apron blue.
The village church among the trees,Where first our marriage-vows were given,With merry peals shall swell the breezeAnd point with taper spire to Heaven.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- soothe v. t.
- To assent to as true. Testament of Love. [Originally, to assent to as true; OE. so to verify, AS. ges to prove the truth of, to bear witness. See Sooth, a.]
- willowy a.
- Abounding with willows.
- twitter n.
- One who twits, or reproaches; an upbraider. [From Twit.]
- latch v. t.
- To smear; to anoint. [Cf. F. lécher to lick (of German origin). Cf. Lick.]
- ivied a.
- Overgrown with ivy. [From Ivy.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Wish is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, A Wish, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/a-wish.html, id L25303.
Form and metre
A Wish is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAB hillA · earB · millA · nearB
- 2 ABAB thatchA · nestB · latchA · guestB
- 3 ABAB springA · dewB · singA · blueB
- 4 ABAB treesA · givenB · breezeA · heavenB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Mine be a cot beside the hill; | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| A bee-hive’s hum shall soothe my ear; | 8 | ········ |
| A willowy brook that turns a mill | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| With many a fall shall linger near. | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| The swallow, oft, beneath my thatch | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Shall twitter from her clay-built nest; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Oft shall the pilgrim lift the latch, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And share my meal, a welcome guest. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Around my ivied porch shall spring | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Each fragrant flower that drinks the dew; | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| And Lucy, at her wheel, shall sing | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In russet gown and apron blue. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The village church among the trees, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Where first our marriage-vows were given, | 9 | ··//˘··/˘ |
| With merry peals shall swell the breeze | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And point with taper spire to Heaven. | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.